When it comes to studying the Bible, I always want to go deeper. My problem: I’m no Greek or Hebrew scholar. That’s one of the reasons I get so excited every time I open Logos 5. So much original-language research is done for me, I can instantly understand more.

I’ve been studying biblical thanksgiving lately. One place this study takes me is Psalm 136, where the psalmist pens 26 lines of gratitude to the Lord, “For his lovingkindness is everlasting.”

I look it up in my favorite Bible. Since I’m doing a little original-language digging, I’ll go ahead and turn on my reverse interlinear—it’s the table at the bottom of this image.

This entire psalm is encouraging the reader to give thanks to the Lord, who has shown lovingkindness to Israel through creation, delivering them from Egypt, bringing them to the Promised Land, and sustaining them. The psalmist closes by echoing the beginning: “Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his lovingkindness is everlasting.”

If it’s so important that I “give thanks,” Ineed to know what it means!

This is where the Bible Word Study tool comes in. I right-click “thanks” and pull up more information about the Hebrew lemma. Then I run a Bible Word Study.

The Bible Word Study guide fetches the word’s definitions from my lexicons and dictionaries, and shows me how this word, ydh, is translated across my Bible.

So I learn that giving thanks to the Lord is more than saying “thank you” to God. It’s also an acknowledgement of who he is and what he has done. In the case of Psalm 136, it makes sense: acknowledge that the Lord has done incredible things for his people, and thank him, for his lovingkindness is everlasting.

But I want to go deeper. I want to find examples of this kind of thanksgiving.

With Logos 5, I’m able to take a look at other biblical words that share this root.

I see that there are 32 uses of the similar toda(h), which is a sacrifice, song of thanksgiving, etc. That’s interesting. I click the Hebrew word, and Logos 5 runs another Bible Word Study!

I can explore the definitions to see that this thankful song of praise to God was an act of worship that proclaimed his mighty works. Also, the word is used for songs like Psalm 100.

. . . which gives me a fine place to keep exploring as I study biblical thanksgiving this November!

And with the new root data in Logos 5, you can do deeper word studies like this, too!

“Exegesis” sounds like a technical and abstract idea, but at its core, it’s quite simple.

Exegesis is drawing meaning from what the Scripture says.

Exegesis is going to the Bible to understand what it meant when it was written, and letting the author’s intent govern the way the Bible is interpreted. Exegesis can involve highly technical language analysis, but it doesn’t have to. In fact, you can do it right now.

What Is Exegesis? Watch How It Works!

Let’s try out some exegesis on Luke 17:11–19, where we see Jesus cleansing ten lepers, but only one thanks him. We start by looking the passage up in Logos 5.

A big part of exegesis is answering the question, “What did the author want to get across?” We see in Luke 1:1–4 and Acts 1:1–2 that this book is intended to be an exact account of Jesus’ acts and teachings, so we need to see what Jesus says and does in this passage:

Jesus cleanses ten lepers.

Only one comes back to glorify God and give thanks.

Jesus commends the thankful one.

Now that we’ve covered the elementary stuff, we can start doing exegesis, right? Well, actually, we’ve already started. We determined some of what the text means by letting it speak for itself—that’s what exegesis is.

Now Let’s Try the Exegetical Guide

We can exegete this text as deeply as we want with the Exegetical Guide. First, I right-click “giving thanks” in verse 16 and select “Exegetical Guide.”

This fetches all my grammars, apparatuses, and visualizations, plus a word-by-word breakdown of verse 16. I just want to see what “giving thanks” means, so I’ll find it in the breakdown:

We can see that “giving thanks” refers to being thankful, or feeling obligated to thank. Thankfulness via obligation? That doesn’t sound so good to me at first.

But when I open BDAG (a lexicon, or cross-language dictionary), I see that the word εὐχαριστέω was a diplomatic term: the party on the receiving end of a favor would assure the other party of their goodwill. In the New Testament, this word is almost exclusively used for giving thanks to God (exception: Romans 16:4).

And with Logos 5, I can also look up any New Testament word’s syntactic force, or how syntax determines its function. This is kind of nuts-and-boltsy, but sometimes we can learn what the text is saying by looking at both what a word means and how it’s used.

Great—it’s a participle showing manner. But what does that mean? Well, I get the definition on hover.

By looking at the syntactic force, I see that the leper’s actions took on a tone of returning goodwill to the Lord who just healed him.

What’s my attitude of thankfulness? Do I just carry on, happy to be blessed, or do I turn it into an opportunity to glorify God?

Do I even feel obligated to thank him?

Exegesis may sound purely academic, but it can lead you to ask life-changing questions.

What Is Exegesis? It’s Something You Can Do!

The Exegetical Guide is certainly one of my favorite tools in Logos 5, and it may be yours, too. You can get all the Exegetical Guide functions when you get Logos 5 Bronze, but the BDAG lexicon comes in base packages Platinum and above.

Today’s post is from Morris Proctor, certified and authorized trainer for Logos Bible Software. Morris, who has trained thousands of Logos users at his two-day Camp Logos seminars, provides many training materials.

A couple of months ago, I wrote a blog post about “power reading,” which incorporates your preferred Bible and the Information Panel (Tools | Information). The gist of “power reading” is to rest the cursor on a word in the Bible—the Information Panel instantly displays data about the word.

Today’s scenario is this:

What if you see something in the Info Panel that you want to copy into a Note file or Word doc? As you move the cursor off your word and toward the Info Panel, the data may change.

Of course, you could click Settings on the Information Panel and change the Update Information option to click, but that sort of diminishes the power of “power reading.” The beauty of this setup is that you don’t have to click a thing to access data.

So here’s more power for “power reading”:

Open your preferred Bible.

Choose Tools | Information.

Rest the cursor on a word in the Bible to display data in the Info Panel.

Hold down the Ctrl or Cmd key, which freezes the data.

Move the cursor inside the Information Panel.

Release the Ctrl or Cmd key.

Once the cursor is inside the Info Panel, you can work with the text as much as you want without worrying that it might change on you!

There’s no better time of year to explore the life of Mary than now, as we head into the Advent and Christmas season.

The Gospels mention Mary in only a few verses, so we easily assume there’s not much to learn about her life. Yet she was present as a silent witness and guiding force throughout Jesus’ early years, she was with him at the foot of the cross, and she continued his work as one of his disciples. Her story of sacrifice and devotion serves as a model for us as we seek to deepen our commitment to the Lord—and it provides the perfect church curriculum for this holy season.

A volume in the Studies in Faithful Living Series, Mary: Devoted to God’s Plan, is available as a complete church curriculum or an individual study guide, allowing your entire church to engage Mary’s rich and compelling story together. Both versions feature infographics, maps, thought-provoking questions and answer boxes, Bible study tips, and an annotated reading list for further study.

Here’s a peek at what you’ll find in chapter 2 of Mary: Devoted to God’s Plan:

Historical & Cultural Background. Luke does not tell us exactly where Elizabeth lived in Judah. He simply describes the area as “the hill country” (Luke 1:39). The book of Joshua lists nine cities in the hill country of the tribe of Judah (Josh. 15:48–54; see also Josh. 11:21). It’s likely Elizabeth and Zechariah lived in the hilly region to the southwest of Jerusalem.

Mary came from Nazareth, a Galilean city west of the Sea of Galilee (see Luke 1:26). Her journey from Nazareth to the hill country of Judah covered between 80 and 100 miles. Luke does not mention whether Mary made any preparations for the trip or how she traveled; she may have gone on foot or as part of a caravan. In Mary’s day, a person traveling by foot could cover about 20 miles per day. If Mary walked to Elizabeth’s home, it would have taken her four to five days. If she accompanied a caravan, she would have arrived in about three days.

Tip: Looking at a map can often shed light on a story. To see the distance Mary had to travel to see Elizabeth, open up Logos and select “Biblical Places” under the “Tools” menu, and then search for “Nazareth.” Select the map titled “Jesus’ Journeys to Jerusalem.” You’ll see Nazareth at the top in the region of Galilee, and the hill country of Judah in the south, west of the Dead Sea between the cities of Jerusalem and Hebron.

In either case, Mary demonstrated her courage as well as her desire for confirmation of God’s plan—such a journey would have been dangerous, especially for a young girl alone. Mary serves as a role model, not only for her obedience, but for her action. She overcome any fear she may have had about surrendering to God’s call on her life or facing the possible danger involved in confirming his will. Such complete surrender freed her to act in confidence.

Dig deeper into the life of Mary and take your faith to a new level of commitment as you and your congregation prepare to celebrate Jesus’ birth. The complete church curriculum is available at a 25% Pre-Pub discount of $74.95, and the individual study guide is $14.95—that’s 50% off the regular price.

Knox Theological Seminary will be kicking off 2013 with new Doctor of Ministry and Master of Arts (Biblical and Theological Studies) classes. January’s DMin classes will be The Epistle to the Hebrews: Exegesis and Theology, Preaching Christ in the Law, Prophets, and Psalms, and The Art of Biblical Preaching; the next MABTS classes will be New Testament 1—Gospel and Acts and, starting in March, History of Christianity 1—Ancient and Medieval.

The Doctor of Ministry in Preaching and Teaching is a three-year program designed to accommodate your fulltime ministry schedule. You’ll attend up to four onsite classes each year for personalized instruction from some of today’s most respected theological scholars, including Drs. Warren Gage, Haddon Robinson, and Samuel Lamerson. The rest of your studies you’ll do from the comfort of your home, office, or favorite coffee shop.

The Master of Arts (Biblical and Theological Studies) gives you the freedom to earn your master’s degree from almost anywhere. This three-year, fully online program explores the Bible’s grand narrative, training you in systematic theology, church history, ethics, apologetics, hermeneutics, and more. You’ll learn to communicate Christ and his Gospel, as well as the centrality of that Gospel to every aspect of Christian life and ministry.

“Being able to not only have your Bible right there, but to have all types of different tools and resources sitting in the palm of your hand gives you an endless amount of time to grow in your faith and grow in the Word.”—LeCrae on the Faithlife Study Bible

The Unashamed Tour has brought Christian hip-hop artists KB, LeCrae, and others from the 116 Clique around the United States. They’ve traveled from New York to Chicago to Seattle, with more stops to come, playing for sold-out crowds.

KB and Lecrae share a mission—to preach the Gospel through their music. Influential figures in urban culture, they focus on bringing the message of God to all they meet. This calling to be cultural missionaries manifests itself through their music.

The Power of Bible Study

Both men are passionate about Bible study, which is central to their music. They stress the importance of having context to bring to the Word. When delving into Scripture, they try to understand the author’s original intent. Knowing the culture and history behind the text is key to comprehending what’s being said.

That’s why they’re using the Faithlife Study Bible to do their biblical research. The FSB’s three layers of study notes, images and infographics, and incredible mobility make it the perfect on-tour study tool.

So what are you waiting for? Find out why LeCrae and KB are so excited about the Faithlife Study Bible—unlock it for free today!

This year, our Black Friday Like-athon is putting you in charge of our Black Friday sales, and the products you’re interested in are rising to the top. So far, there have been over 4,000 Likes across Logos.com.

If you haven’t had a chance to Like all the products you want to see in the Black Friday sale, don’t wait—there’s a limited time left to have your Likes count toward Black Friday savings. So check in with your family, friends, online social networks and encourage them to get their Like in, too. For every 1,500 Likes, we’ll drop the prices on some of the most Liked products!

Getting involved is as simple as going to your favorite products’ pages, finding the Like button beneath the product image, and pressing it.That’s it! The more an item’s liked, the better its chances to end up as part of the Black Friday sale.

We’ll be starting the Black Friday discounts November 21 to give you a few more days to save. If you want to hear when your special deals are released, sign up for the Black Friday email list today. Not only will the deals be sent directly to your inbox—you’ll also receive an exclusive post–Black Friday special. Sign up now!

*Base packages, Pre-Pub products, and Community Pricing resources will not be included in this sale. Discounts will vary based on publisher agreements.

Enrich your preaching and enhance your sermon and worship planning with the Logos Pastorum Series. Now available as a seven-volume collection at a great price, the Pastorum Series collection will save you 23 percent off the regular price. We can’t begin to tell how much time it will save you.

The Pastorum Series offers pastors two types of resources: sourcebooks and sermon helps.

The sourcebooks, 300 Quotations for Preachers and 400 Prayers for Preachers, make it easy for you to find an appropriate prayer or quotation to use during a service or for any number of other occasions. Here’s a look at what you’ll find in the Quotations volume. The Prayers volume is organized in the same way.

The Necessity of Depending on God

Genesis 17:1; Psalm 62:7; Isaiah 50:10; Hosea 12:6

Preaching Theme: Faith

“There is no other method of living piously and justly, than that of depending upon God.”—John Calvin

“Jesus Is Our Divinest Symbol”

Colossians 1:15–17

Preaching Theme: Jesus

“Jesus is our divinest symbol. Higher has the human thought not yet reached. A symbol of quite perennial, infinite character: whose significance will ever demand to be anew inquired into and anew made manifest.”—Thomas Carlyle

The sermon helps, the Study, Apply, Share series, empower you to jumpstart your sermon- and worship-planning process. They go through a biblical book passage by passage, prompting you with questions to dig deeper into the text and helping you make the most of your Logos library through links to relevant discussions. Application points, worship service ideas, and professionally designed slides make it easy for you to share information on words and themes in that book. Let’s take a look at the Study and Apply sections of Luke 5:12–16:

Apply

Preaching Theme: God’s Mercy

Leprosy was a painful disease that rendered a person ceremonially unclean. Jesus’ compassion led Him to touch this leper and heal him, restoring his health as well as his status in the community. Do you see others’ pain? May God open our eyes to see when others are hurting, and let us put our compassion into action by helping them.

Preaching Theme: Jesus’ Miracles

The leper showed that he trusted in Jesus by falling on his face before Him. He acknowledged Jesus’ ability to make him clean and Jesus’ right to exercise that ability. Sometimes Christians wrongly assume that God only worked miracles during biblical times. Do you believe that God still performs miracles? Let us follow the leper’s example by approaching the Lord and saying, “If you are willing, you can.”

Share

Preaching Theme: God’s Mercy

Worship Service Idea: Consider holding an interview in front of the congregation with a member who exhibits compassion.

Preaching Theme: Jesus’ Miracles

Worship Service Idea: Consider a short drama or skit that depicts Jesus’ miracle of healing the leper.

Today’s post is from Morris Proctor, certified and authorized trainer for Logos Bible Software. Morris, who has trained thousands of Logos users at his two-day Camp Logos seminars, provides many training materials.

My favorite new feature in Logos 5 is probably the tagging of referents in the reverse interlinear. Here’s what I mean. Suppose you want to conduct a thorough biographical study of Timothy, so you search the Bible for every occurrence of the word Timothy. This, of course, finds the word Timothy, but what if he’s referred to as brother, disciple, or son? A simple word search doesn’t find these references—until now in Logos 5.

A Logos research team has manually tagged the BIble’s pronouns and linguistic expressions, pointing them to the correct people, places, and things. Three cheers for this team! This means you can now find all references to the man Timothy, regardless of the words used.

Here are a couple of ways to see this incredible tagging in action:

Biblical People

Choose Tools | Bible Facts (Biblical People, Places, and Things have been combined into one tool).

Type Timothy in the reference box. (A)

Select Timothy from the dropdown list to generate the report.

Notice, in the left sidebar (which replaces the top ribbon in Logos 4), the section called Referred to As. (B)

Referred to As displays all the references to the man Timothy, not the word Timothy.

Clause Search

Click the Search icon.

Select Clause (A) as the search type.

Select All Passages (B) and the Lexham Greek-English Interlinear (C) from the dropdown lists.

Select Person Anywhere in Clause (D) from the examples list to place that search string in the Find box.

Change, in the Find box, the word Moses to Timothy (E).

Press the Enter key to generate the search.

Again, here are all the verses that mention the man Timothy, not the word Timothy!